General FAQs

A. The Certificate Maintenance Program provides many services for its members. It maintains records of your certification which can be verified by employers or credentialing bodies. To do this, it maintains an office and staff in Linthicum, Maryland. It also supports a Certificate Maintenance Committee who meets twice a year to produce and evaluate the continuing education modules. The members of this committee donate their time but have their travel expenses covered by AMCB.

A. CNMs/CMs with lapsed certification must pay the exam fee (previous fees paid into CMP do not apply to exam fee), take and pass the exam (CBT), and submit an average of 10 approved continuing education contact hours per year since the date of last certification (up to a maximum of 100 hours), to recertify. CNMs/CMs are eligible to sit for the exam for two years (24 months) from the date of the completed application. Click here to go to the Application Process.

A graduate degree is required to be eligible to take the national certification examination. This includes certificants who have allowed their certification to lapse.

A. The recertification application can be access on the AMCB portal, but can only be submitted in the last year of your certification cycle.

Click here to log on to the portal. Once you’ve logged in, click “My Account” in the upper-right corner to get to the portal homepage. On the portal homepage you will click “CMP Requirements & Recertification Application”, then either create a new recertification application for your certification type or open your existing recertification application by clicking the “Details” link on the bottom of the page.

Once you have opened your application you will see pages listed on the left (Education Information, Employment Information, Licensure Information, Demographic Information, and Program Information). Prior submitting your recertification application you will need to complete the questions on these pages.

A. Annual fees sent in late will be assessed a late fee. A reminder will be sent to your address on file from AMCB Headquarters. Even if you do not participate in CMP for a given year (i.e. do not complete a module that year) you must continue to pay the annual fee to keep your certification current. Outstanding balances must be paid prior to receiving new certification or being placed in the Retired category.

A. If you need to change your name with AMCB, you must provide us with a legally issued document to serve as proof of your legal name change. Documents acceptable by AMCB to prove a legal name change include: Marriage Certificate or License, Divorce Decree, Certificate of Naturalization showing a new name, Court Order for a name change, or a Notarized Passport.

If the document you provide as evidence of a legal name change does not give us enough information to identify you in our records, you will need to provide AMCB with additional documentation.

A. We require proof of name changes to protect our certificants, because without supporting documentation, anyone would be able to contact our organization and change someone's name. This could then cause issues for the certificant when trying to obtain verification for licensure and/or employment.

If you have previously updated your name with the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), documentation of a name change will still need to be submitted to the American Midwifery Certification Board (AMCB) as the two organizations are separate entities.

A. CNMs and CMs who are permanently retired from midwifery practice and who no longer have clinical or professional requirements may choose to be placed in AMCB's retirement classification. Retired CNMs/CMs may use the title CNM (ret.) or CM (ret.). CNMs/CMs who are in the Retired category have the same requirements as those that are Lapsed if they decide to re-enter active certification, see the FAQ "If my certificate expires, what are my options?". A CNM/CM who opts to be considered Retired must have completed ALL of their educational and financial requirements of their current CMP cycle and completed at least one full 5-year cycle in good standing.

AMCB will refund any credit on an account when a CNM/CM retires in good standing.

AMCB certifies midwives who have satisfied applicable credentialing requirements established by AMCB. AMCB has created certification marks for certificates to use and display to represent their status as AMCB-certified. These marks represent a standard of excellence in the field of midwifery, and are widely known and recognized by educators, employers, midwives, patients and others as such.

A. Mark Ownership.

The following certification marks and credentials (AMCB Certification Marks) are owned and controlled by AMCB LLC (AMCB):

CM®

CNM®

AMCB retains all trademark and other ownership rights concerning the AMCB Certification Marks. AMCB may create and use additional marks, as it deems appropriate.

B. Authorized Use of AMCB Certification Marks.

AMCB grants limited permission to use specific AMCB Certification Marks to qualified midwives who satisfy all applicable AMCB credentialing requirements. Consistent with applicable law and corporate policies, AMCB will ensure that the Certification Marks are displayed and otherwise used properly.

C. Persons Authorized to Use the Certification Marks/Certificant Responsibilities.

Use of the AMCB Certification Marks is limited strictly to those individuals who are AMCB certificants in good standing. Each AMCB certificant is authorized to use only the Certification Mark which represents the credential that she/he has obtained and continues to maintain.

Each AMCB certificant accepts and assumes sole responsibility for understanding and satisfying all applicable organizational and legal requirements related to the use and display of the AMCB Certification Marks. Among other requirements, each certificant is responsible for ensuring that the use of an AMCB Certification Mark in professional materials (e.g., business cards, letterhead, e-mail signatures, advertisements) is consistent with this Policy, and is not in conflict with any applicable laws. AMCB shall not be liable or otherwise responsible for any claims, complaints, suits or damages whatsoever, relating to a certificant’s use of the AMCB Certification Marks.

D. Proper Use.

An AMCB certificant must use the appropriate Certification Mark only in conjunction with his/her name.

E. Non-Assignability and Non-Transferability of the Certification Mark.

Permission to use the AMCB Certification Marks is limited and personal to the AMCB certificant and may not be transferred to, assigned to, or otherwise used by, any other person or entity.

F. Violation Reporting Responsibilities.

An AMCB certificant has the responsibility to report the unauthorized use, misuse, or other violation of this Policy to AMCB in a timely manner, including any circumstances where the use of an AMCB Corporate or Certification Mark is related to an individual or organization that is not AMCB or an AMCB certificant, or where a Certification Mark is used improperly by a AMCB certificant.

G. Enforcement of AMCB Trademark Rights.

AMCB reserves the right to employ the full range of legal remedies and certification-related sanctions available under applicable laws and AMCB policies to protect the AMCB Corporate and Certification Marks from unauthorized or improper use.

H. Disciplinary Actions Related to Mark Misuse By a Certificant.

An AMCB certificant or candidate who acts contrary to the terms of this Policy or applicable law may be sanctioned by AMCB in accordance with the terms and conditions of the AMCB Disciplinary Policy.

I. Policy Violation Actions Concerning Third Parties.

Following receipt of information that an inappropriate or unauthorized use of the AMCB Certification Mark(s) by a third party individual, organization, or company may have occurred, AMCB, in its sole discretion and in consultation with legal counsel, will determine if responsive action(s) will be taken.

A. If all CMP requirements are complete by October 1st of the final year, you will receive your new certificate and certification card by the end of the year. Your new certificate expiration date will appear in the online verification database, as well. If CMP requirements are completed after October 1st, you may receive your new certificate and certification card after January 1st.

Module FAQs

A. The articles in the packets are under copyright protection. Before we can distribute them, we must pay copyright fees and often times these fees are very expensive. AMCB also incurs the cost of printing, binding, and shipping. We make every attempt to reduce these costs by printing in bulk and using the most economical shipping methods.

A. Articles can be obtained from a number of sources. The articles are typically from commonly used midwifery, nursing, and obstetric journals. They may also be purchased as an entire article reprint packet from AMCB for $75.00. Individual articles will not be available for purchase from AMCB.

Please note: If you place an order for an article set and do not receive your order, please notify our office immediately. To be resent an article set, notification of non-receipt must be received within 30 days of the order's original processing/mailing date.

A. One new module is developed each year and is active for 34 months. The module is then closed for participation on December 1st (online submission) during its third year. In a five year cycle, at least two versions of each practice area (Antepartum and Primary Care of the Pregnant Woman; Intrapartum, Postpartum and Newborn; and Gynecology and Primary Care for the Well-Woman) will be available.

A. Each module will have six opportunities for manual (scantron) grading as a module is active for 34 months. Modules are manually graded two times per year, each year that they are active. The first grading of the year is April 1st and the second grading of the year is October 1st. Answer sheets may be mailed so that they are received prior to the deadlines. Once modules are sent out for grading it may take 30-60 days to receive Pass/Fail results.

If answer sheets are received after the third year's October 1st grading, they will not be graded and that module will not count towards the individual's Certificate Maintenance Program requirements.

Effective January 1st, 2015, scantron grading will no longer be available. If you would like to submit your module for grading, please sign into your account on AMCBs website.

Modules are also available for completion online through our website. This option allows you to take the module at any time and to receive instant Pass/Fail results. Once you have passed the module, you can then print your own Pass letter directly from our website.

A. The module exams are open-book and should not be difficult to pass if the participant reads the referenced articles. Answers are directly referenced from the articles.

If you do not receive a passing score of 75% or better, you may re-take a module exam two additional times as long as the module is still active. If you fail the module exam three times, you will need to complete another module in the same practice area within the five-year cycle.

A. The AMCB Certificate Maintenance Program Committee decides on topics for modules. The committee is comprised of midwives from a variety of practice-models and geographical locations. The topics for a module are chosen based upon nationally recognized population-based health needs of women and infants, and periodic task analyses of midwifery practice done by the AMCB. The committee will also solicit topics from CNMs/CMs through announcements in Quickening.

A. The purpose of the attestation question is to ensure to the public that each midwife is informed on updates to clinical practice. The attestation is consistent with other professional groups that use similar continued competency and continued education methods. While the AMCB Board does support study groups and encourages Module discussions, it is important that each individual is able to declare a full understanding of all materials covered in the required articles.

Continuing Education FAQs

A. Ten percent of participants in each certification cycle will have their continuing education randomly audited at the end of their cycle. It is recommended that you keep continuing education documentation one year past the end of each cycle. (You may also need to keep continuing education documentation for longer periods if your licensing body requires them). Please do not send copies of your continuing education documents unless you are contacted by AMCB and asked to do so. AMCB does not maintain continuing education files.

Click here to log on to the Portal. Once you’ve logged in, click “My Account” in the upper-right corner to get to the portal homepage. On the portal homepage you will click “CMP Requirements & Recertification Application”, then either create a new application for your certification type or open your existing application by clicking the “Details” link on the bottom of the page. Once you have opened your application you will click "Contact Hours" on the left side. Here you can view, edit, and add continuing education.

A. Yes. AMCB will accept clinical precepting hours as part of its contact hour requirement. If an individual has provided direct clinical supervision as a preceptor to an SNM or SM from an ACME accredited program, she or he may receive recognition in lieu of up to 10 contact hours for 90 hours or more spent precepting over the certification cycle. A letter from the faculty coordinator is required for documentation.

Contact hours will be calculated as 9 hours of clinical precepting is equal to 1 contact hour. The maximum amount accepted would be 90 hours of precepting. Click here to view the AMCB Continuing Education Policy.